RESUMO
To provide quantitative data about the prevalence of malocclusions in the Shiraz orthodontic population, we studied the records of 700 patients [391 girls and 309 boys] aged 6-14 years attending the undergraduate Department of Orthodontics at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The prevalence of Angle class I, II and III malocclusion of first molars was 52.0%, 32.6% and 12.3% respectively. Skeletal class I, II and III malocclusion was found in 18.0%, 70.0% and 12.0% respectively. There were no significant differences between the sexes in the prevalence of different types of skeletal malocclusion. Children with class III were significantly younger [mean age 8.9 years] than those with class I [9.6 years] or class II [9.7 years] malocclusions. Orthodontics students need more education and training in the management of class II malocclusion to improve the overall quality of care for patients